Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World – Chapter 120

Author: rolypoly

“To think we’d meet in a place like this… isn’t this fate!”

“…Why is that person here?”

“In the first place, Yoo Hwashin, do you know him? You two seem pretty close?”

Do I know him? Of course I do.

With a serious expression, Hwashin swept his hair back and turned his back to the hallway with a sharp snap.

A hollow laugh burst out. Why did it have to be him of all people?

“Mhm, I know him. Because we met during this recent summit.”

“Ah, right. You did go to the summit.”

“Hwashin-ssi~, why are you ignoring me like this~? Weren’t we on good terms? I really liked you, Hwashin-ssi~.”

The man with his eyes narrowed into curved slits sat there, waving his hand and swaying his body from side to side. Perhaps because of his thin wrists, he looked like a fluttering paper doll.

Cha Jaeha, who was sitting on the floor, clicked his tongue and spoke.

“Wang Hao. Why is that guy here?”

“Something like this happened during Heo Mugong’s time, too. Don’t you remember? Meeting Adam and Nathan there.”

“I remember Adam’s group entering. I’m just asking why it had to be this b*stard.”

Indeed. It meant why on earth, in this situation, did they have to encounter this Chinese guy.

“Aha.”

Of course, I agree. At the very least, it would have made more sense if someone relatively trustworthy like Adam or Nathan had come in. Even if the domestic Heroes couldn’t come in because they had to handle the situation outside.

But why him?

Jeong Mueum, who had been listening quietly, hooked his finger on his chin. He seemed to be analyzing the current situation and their combat power. After quickly glancing back and forth between Wang Hao and Hwashin, Jeong Mueum slowly raised his head.

“In any case, isn’t it a good sign that our side has increased by even one person? We have to ask why he’s in there first, but Wang Hao-ssi is an S-rank Hero, too. I’m sure he’ll be a help.”

“But he’s a Chinese guy. Can we trust him?”

Yoo Jian stared at Wang Hao with a meaningful expression, her arms crossed. Wang Hao blew a hand-kiss toward her and winked. Yoo Jian shuddered and turned her head away.

“…He must be a lunatic. Guys, that person is a real lunatic.”

“I already know he’s a lunatic, Jian-ah.”

“Everyone, I can hear you~.”

Wang Hao, who had been smiling brightly like a flower, pressed his face close against the iron bars. Naturally, his whole face didn’t fit through because the gaps were narrow.

“Ah! For your information, a Hell has opened in China as well. Other Heroes were dispatched too, but it seems I’m the only one who got entangled with Korea. Look at this! Isn’t even this situation fate?”

“…Then can you tell us who the other Heroes are?”

Wang Hao merely shrugged his shoulders and didn’t give an answer to Hwashin’s question. Since he simply didn’t provide one, it couldn’t be concluded that he didn’t know.

“You’re avoiding the important answer.”

“Haha, what can I do?”

Wang Hao smiled brightly and placed a finger gently over his lips. It was a gesture implying he couldn’t say because it was a state secret.

At that attitude, Hwashin immediately chose what to say to his party.

“Wang Hao isn’t someone to trust, just like Jian said.”

“Right, I told you he’s a lunatic. Ugh, that wink is giving me goosebumps even thinking about it again.”

“But he’s not someone to leave out of our combat force, either.”

“….Well. That is also true.”

His lightly tossed-out remarks never left anything to be criticized. Yoo Jian eventually nodded in silence at Hwashin’s words.

It was certainly true. Wang Hao wasn’t a man to be trusted, but he was too valuable an individual to leave out of the force.

To summarize the Wang Hao known to the public in one word, he was an ‘attention seeker.’ He handpicked places that would cause talk, and he never refused an interview request addressed to him—even though most Chinese Heroes refused any interview that wasn’t with their own national broadcasting station.

Wang Hao was a different kind of handsome from the typical Chinese handsome face that favored thick eyebrows and bold lines, but within China, he belonged to the group with a significant number of female fans. They said his ethereal vibe stimulated maternal instincts or something?

If one had to pick a Hero who fit the saying “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” Wang Hao would surely contend for first or second place.

Yoo Jian bit her lip and thought for a moment before finally letting out a sigh.

“So what you’re saying is… we make that lunatic one of us for now, and then once we’re out, we’ll completely ignore him… is that it?”

“I didn’t put it exactly like that, but.”

Hwashin smiled broadly at Jian’s words.

“It’s not wrong.”

“Are you finished with your conversation~?”

Wang Hao fluttered his long arms again.

I’m telling you, I don’t like him from his very posture while waiting. ….I hate people who are that slick.

– Well… it’s probably a case of like-hates-like. You’re slick like that too, Elric.

Excuse me. I wasn’t that kind of guy originally, okay?

Anyway, in this situation, it was better to have even one more person who was at least somewhat reliable.

At the very least, Wang Hao was more reliable than the humans inside the Hell of Falsehood.

Hwashin, who finished the conversation, stepped forward and squatted down. Hwashin, who locked eyes with the lying Wang Hao, initiated the conversation first.

“But Wang Hao-ssi, how did you get all the way here? This must be your first time with a Red Gate or a Hell, so you surely would have struggled.”

It was true. According to the original, Wang Hao is not the one who should be here. He could roughly guess the reason.

‘The development must have changed because Wang Hao survived in Russia.’

At Hwashin’s question, Wang Hao smiled broadly as if he had been waiting. It was an ecstatic face without a single shadow, as if he had met the god he had served all his life.

…He looks slightly like a pervert.

“That’s right! I did receive a draft of the Red Gate manual, but it was certainly difficult to apply it immediately. Especially the fact that the Gate isn’t resolved just by killing monsters was a nuisance. Just in case, I ended up massacring a whole village. I was locked up here because I caused a commotion then. Thanks to that, I made it to the royal castle comfortably, so I was just taking a break.”

It was then, right after hearing Wang Hao’s answer.

Crash.

Since mana couldn’t be used, the iron bars of the prison shouldn’t have been easily brought down.

However, it seemed Cha Jaeha’s physical ability, which exploded in an instant, was sufficient to demolish the wall. Having emerged from the cell by tearing through the wall and bars, he strode straight toward Wang Hao through a cloud of dust.

In an instant, he thrust his arm through the bars.

Cha Jaeha asked as he hoisted Wang Hao up by the collar.

“…..Say that again. What did you just say?”

“Ah, did you not hear me?”

“…..”

“I said I massacred a village.”

Wang Hao continued in a light tone, as if telling a heroic tale.

“I wanted to see what happens if I kill humans instead of monsters inside a Hell. It was a sort of experiment, an experiment. People do it a lot in the real world, don’t they? Like experiments to measure a monster’s power. It’s that kind of thing.”

Yes, this was a simple experiment.

In China as well, a dome had spread centered around Shanghai, and citizens who failed to evacuate were swept into that dome. In fact, when Wang Hao entered the Hell, the bodies of dead citizens were already strewn across the ground. There were those brutally torn apart by monsters, and some were half-alive, groaning for someone to kill them.

Also, one of them was—

– H-hik. A-A strange fellow has come in from the outside.

– W-what should we do? Should we kill him?

– Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!

– Yeah, kill him!

By the hands of the humans who were inside the Hell.

They died.

Wang Hao had asked the peasant who had brutally slashed the chests of the citizens—who hadn’t offered any resistance—with a scythe.

– …Why did you kill these people?

– T-That’s because that person threatened us first, so we killed them.

– That’s right! We didn’t do anything!

When entering the Hell, Wang Hao had also been able to hear the name of the Hell.

A hollow laugh flowed from his mouth after hearing the peasant’s answer. He said:

– …..The Hell of Falsehood, indeed. Truly, this place is filled with liars.

Wang Hao’s fingernails turned sharp. All his fine hairs turned into sharp needles, and a luster similar to steel flowed over his smooth skin.

As Wang Hao took one step closer—

– A spear that cleaves all things.

The head of the man holding the scythe fell to the ground with a clean slice.

– W-what is—

As Wang Hao took three steps closer, the tongues of the villagers around the one with the scythe were severed without a sound.

Squelch—.

Blood surged upward. It fell from the sky like rain. The corpses of the liars who had killed his country’s citizens rose before him like a great mountain.

Wang Hao wiped his bloody cheek with his sleeve and this time gathered the corpses of his fellow countrymen into one place.

Staring blankly down at the two piles of corpses, Wang Hao muttered.

– They are exactly the same in being liars, though.

***

“Those villagers deserved to die.”

Wang Hao continued with a fishy smile. The collar he was being held by crumpled even more tightly.

“….Deserved to die?”

“Of course, that was by my standards.”

Wang Hao seemed to lack even a shred of guilt for killing the villagers.

“Besides, if the protagonist of this Hell happened to be in that village, wouldn’t I have been able to resolve the Hell quickly as a bonus?”

With his final words, Wang Hao smirked.

“Of course, they were all duds.”

Grit.

Cha Jaeha bit his molars hard at Wang Hao’s answer. Wang Hao tilted his head to the side as if unable to understand his reaction.

“Are you angry? Oh? But Cha Jaeha-ssi, you killed monsters without any hesitation, didn’t you?”

Wang Hao’s long fingers slowly wrapped around Cha Jaeha’s wrist.

“No matter how much they might look like humans, they are ultimately lifeforms existing inside a Gate, so from our perspective, they are no different from monsters. I do not hesitate to kill life that doesn’t belong to my world. On the contrary….. isn’t it too hypocritical to show compassion just because of an appearance?”

“…..”

“I have such standards accurately established. But Hero Cha Jaeha……”

His long, single-lidded eyes narrowed. The sharp atmosphere of his eyes felt as if it were poking at Cha Jaeha’s weakness. As if the contradiction he himself had been feeling became a dagger and was hacking away at him.

“It seems you haven’t made a judgment yet. This is why I dislike Heroes like you.”

Having said that, Wang Hao pulled his head to the side with his mouth tightly shut. His gaze passed Cha Jaeha’s thick waist and directed itself toward Yoo Hwashin.

“In the same sense, I like you, Yoo Hwashin-ssi. Oh, and it seems languages are automatically translated when meeting Heroes from other countries here? It’s my first time, so it’s awkward, but I look forward to working with you. You’ve decided to be on the same team as me until the Hell ends, right?”

In the end, Cha Jaeha let go of Wang Hao, whom he had been holding. The dropped Wang Hao brushed off his buttocks and stood up.

However, Cha Jaeha stood before him with a complicated face after letting Wang Hao go.

‘Is Wang Hao’s word wrong? No, he might be right.’

Why was he unable to treat the humans of the village the same way when he killed monsters so easily? If he defined all life within a Gate as ‘monsters,’ it was right to treat them the same.

The point of distinction Cha Jaeha had placed was “appearance” at most. He had protected them simply because their appearance was something he could feel a sense of identity with.

If a monster could speak and knew how to think. How should he face it then? Cha Jaeha was confused, but he also thought that he was the one who had to find that answer.

Hwashin shuffled out through the hole Cha Jaeha had made.

He placed an arm over Cha Jaeha’s shoulder and broke the atmosphere.

“Cha! Jae! Ha!”

A tone so light it felt like it would fly away, completely unsuited for the situation. He gave Cha Jaeha a loud flick on the forehead and said:

“Hey, you aren’t being swayed by that guy’s words, are you?”

“That guy? Yoo Hwashin-ssii.”

“…I wasn’t swayed.”

“Uh, uh, uh! You! In the Hell of Falsehood, teammates are forbidden from lying to each other.”

“Shhh, shhhhhh!” Hwashin placed a finger over his tightly shut lips and caused a commotion with his eyes squeezed shut.

It was then.

“What is all this noise!”

Along with a loud shout from beyond the door, the old door rattled open. The footsteps of the large man walking over the threshold soon stopped.